TELEGRAPHS UNDER GOVERNMENT AND PRIVATE CONTROL COMPARED.
The assertion that the Telegraph facilities are better in those countries where it is under governmental control than in those where it is left to private enterprise is entirely erroneous, as the following tables, compiled from official data, will show.
| Statistics of Telegraphs constructed and operated under Government Control. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NAME OF COUNTRY. | Number of Offices. | Number of Miles of Line. | Number of Miles of Wire. | Number of Messages Sent. | Population. | Proportion of Offices to Population. |
| Austria | 851 | 24,618 | 73,854 | 2,507,472 | 39,411,309 | 1 to 46,311 |
| Belgium | 356 | 2,187 | 6,146 | 1,128,005 | 4,984,451 | 1 to 14,000 |
| Bavaria | 2,115 | 4,945 | 4,541,556 | |||
| Denmark | 89 | 2,515 | 308,150 | 2,468,713 | 1 to 27,000 | |
| France | 1,209 | 20,628 | 68,687 | 2,507,472 | 38,302,625 | 1 to 31,600 |
| Italy | 529 | 8,200 | 20,120 | 1,760,889 | 25,925,717 | 1 to 49,000 |
| Norway | 73 | 269,375 | 1,433,488 | 1 to 19,000 | ||
| Prussia | 538 | 18,386 | 55,149 | 1,964,003 | 17,739,913 | 1 to 33,000 |
| Russia | 308 | 12,013 | 22,214 | 838,653 | 68,224,832 | 1 to 221,000 |
| Switzerland | 252 | 1,858 | 3,717 | 668,916 | 2,510,494 | 1 to 10,000 |
| Spain | 142 | 8,871 | 17,743 | 533,376 | 16,302,625 | 1 to 109,000 |
| 4,347 | 98,876 | 275,090 | 12,486,311 | |||
| Statistics of Telegraphs constructed and operated under Private Control. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NAME OF COUNTRY. | Number of Offices. | Number of Miles of Line. | Number of Miles of Wire. | Number of Messages Sent. | Population. | Proportion of Offices to Population. |
| Great Britain and Ireland | 2,151 | 16,588 | 80,466 | 5,781,189 | 29,591,009 | 1 to 13,714 |
| Dominion of Canada | 382 | 6,747 | 8,935 | 573,219 | 3,976,224 | 1 to 10,400 |
| United States | 4,126 | 62,782 | 125,564 | 12,386,952 | 31,148,047 | 1 to 7,549 |
| 6,659 | 86,117 | 214,965 | 18,741,360 | |||
Thus it will be seen that Continental Europe, where the telegraphs are under government control, furnishes but 4,347 offices for a population of over 250,000,000, while Great Britain, the Dominion of Canada, and the United States, where telegraphy has been left to the control of the people, untrammelled by governmental interference, monopoly, or restriction, furnish 6,659 offices for a population of 64,000,000! The number of telegrams transmitted per annum in Continental Europe is only 12,486,311, while there were sent by the people of the three countries where it has hitherto been free from government repression, 18,741,360. The tariff of charges in Continental Europe averages eighty-one cents per message, while in the three countries where the people manage the business it averages but fifty-one cents.
Private enterprise alone laid the submarine cables through the Persian Gulf and Mediterranean Sea, across the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the Vineyard Sound, the Strait of Florida, the English Channel, the North Sea, and the German and Atlantic Oceans.